Samsung Pay expands to new countries, online payments coming in early 2017

Samsung Pay is already pretty ubiquitous thanks to its compatibility with NFC and MST point of sales systems, as well as the 500+ banks and credit agencies partners. Soon, users around the world will be able to make online payments too, as Samsung has announced a deal with MasterCard to integrate Samsung Pay with its Masterpass online payment service.

The digital payment system is supported by hundreds of thousands of online retailers in 33 countries. Starting early next year, Samsung Pay users who also own a MasterCard can skip the usual form-filling and authenticate purchases with a fingerprint.

This integration with Masterpass comes just a day after Google announced a similar deal for for online payments using Android Pay. The search giant also secured a partnership with Visa Checkout, however, covering even more potential customers.

In addition to the deal with MasterCard, Samsung is also expanding support for in-app payments in the US, and introduced a new "deals" feature that will reportedly help users find and redeem discounts instantly at nearby stores.

Lastly, Samsung also expanded the number of countries that Samsung Pay works in to ten, with the addition of support in Malaysia, Russia and Thailand.